Where are we going?

If you are in Toronto and going to Vancouver, you expect to arrive at some point.

You may take the scenic route, hit some detours, and stop at a few tourist traps, but you know where you'll end up.

The same approach goes with storytelling.

In most cases, you show your destination at the start of the book; by the end, we should end up there. You shape the journey around your main character's wants and those of any secondary characters or storylines.

Of course, the rule always has exceptions, such as telling a story that intentionally veers off the given path. You make us think we're going one way, but circumstances change. Yet even in this situation, you have to make us think we're going somewhere—even if the destination is somewhere very different.

Let us know where we're going so we know when we've arrived. You don't have to write it in bold letters, but at least give us a sense of the direction we're travelling.